Young Workers Want to Be at Google, Apple, Facebook

Published at 11:56 AM PST on Nov 14, 2011

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Younger workers want to be a part of Google -- and Apple and Facebook, according to a new survey.

The survey, conducted by Universum, polled 6,698 college graduates under the age of 40 with approximately one to eight years of work experience. They were asked to pick their five ideal employers out of a list of about 200. If their ideal wasn't on the list, respondents could also add one.

No. 1 on the list with 19.7 percent was Google, second place going to Apple with 12.7 percent and third place to Facebook at 8.9 percent. The U.S. State Department, Walt Disney Co., Amazon, FBI, Microsoft, Sony and the CIA rounded out the top 10. This is the second year Universum has done the survey and that Google has topped the survey, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Google has "established a very strong brand in what its culture is, in what it's like to work there," says Chris Cordery, Universum's director of Americas. Based on the responses to the survey, Mr. Cordery says, candidates "look at Google as compensating employees well and offering challenging work but at the same time it will be a fun and strong culture."

About 40 percent of respondents also said they wanted job stability, which was why many government agencies ranked higher this year.

Keep in mind these are the dream jobs of these respondents. We think Cordery is right in thinking that Google has done much better PR on its perks and work environment than either Apple or Facebook and it shows in survey like these.